FAQ
General
What is Backbook?
Backbook matches your angel checks up to 10x.
Submit a deal, our agents underwrite it in minutes, and you keep 20% carry on the dollars we put in alongside you. You’re always in control and are the face of the investment to the founder.
Who is it for?
Founders, operators, ex-VCs, emerging managers, etc. Anyone with great access and acumen, but don’t have the capital. And don’t want to deal with being a scout or spinning up and soliciting capital for an SPV.
Where does the money come from?
Backbook checks come out of the scout program of Bain Capital Ventures / Crypto. Bain is the single LP, which is why we can aggressively share carry with you (20%).
Investment
How do you underwrite the investments?
We built an underwriting model and use a few research agents to evaluate. Within a few minutes, you’ll get a non-slop memo they produce. I then go in and personally finalize the submission decision (for now).
This is an experiment and models/harnesses can be tricky. So we reserve the right to say no to any investment at any point in the process (ex. falsified data, fraud, etc). We always wire money directly to the startup.
What types of investments are eligible?
Early-stage investments (especially preseed and seed). We’re sector-agnostic — what matters is whether you have a real edge on the team, on the market, etc.
How is the investment executed?
Funds and signatories come from Bain Capital Ventures / Crypto scout funds. On the cap table there will be two lines: yours, and Magnify Holdings (legal name of the scout fund).
Do I need to put in my own money?
For now, yes. You’ll angel directly to the startup as you normally would. Backbook is designed to amplify angels with real skin in the game. And give you more leverage for extra allocation / belief you have in a company and its founders.
Process
Is what I submit kept confidential?
Yes. Anything you submit is never shared with the founders or publicly.
How fast do I hear back?
You’ll get a memo from our agents in minutes. It’ll be useful regardless of decision — details about the founder, product, market you should have known but didn’t have time to research yourself. You’ll get a final decision within 24 hours. And the investment will be executed very quickly after that.
What happens if Backbook doesn’t invest?
No harm, no foul. Proceed with your angel investment as planned. You can always resubmit later, and we might reach back out to you in subsequent models if we made a mistake.
Can I submit more than one investment?
Yes. No limit to how many unique investments you can submit.
Miscellaneous
Why are you doing this?
1. Angels are awesome and should be more empowered. VC shouldn’t be gated.
2. Venture and risk capital deployment will get more democratized with autonomous investing. I want to try putting real capital behind that theory and see the limits of the tech.
This is cool/stupid. How can I get in touch?
Shoot me an email. I’m a tech and venture nerd and always open to feedback, ideas, fun ideas, and to build / collaborate with folks.